You Found Me
by Cow'sOpinion
Summary: A trip to New York did more than just land her a job in the big city, it also made a big impact on her decision to turn down Logan's proposal. Find out what and who made her change her mind on her life choices. Tristan/Rory fic.


This is my first Gilmore Girls fic, please be kind!! I always wanted to write something for Tristan and Rory because I think if they tried, they could have had something good and the chemistry is definitely there. Everything that happened in the show happened here, too. It's pretty obvious where this story picks up, so please, read and enjoy! And review are very much loved by me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the clothes on my back, oh and this story, too.

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You Found Me

Chapter One: Lost and Insecure

The atmosphere is light, everyone is smiling and happy. Graduates are proud of what they have accomplished and proud that they've succeeded. Some are relieved and glad that their years of torture in Yale are over, but some weep because their years of fun and carelessness are over. People everywhere are shaking hands and exchange smiles to congratulate the other. Others pose for the camera as they try their best to make this day a memory that will last forever. Some laugh back at the memories of their previous things, talking about things they regret and things that they'd do again.

In the midst of all the chaos during her graduation, the laughter and the joy, Rory watches as Logan walks away from her in defeat, his figure slumps back lower and lower, as his head never lifts up to face the world, instead just the ground he walks on. She notices that he has just pocketed the ring that she could have been wearing right know, his hands stay deep in his pocket, probably griping on it as if it were a stress ball. She watches as his figure get smaller with every second. Rory watched on as his dark suit and sandy blond hair retreated and fades into nothingness.

As his figure moves further and further, her body stays unmoving, except for her fingers that play on the hem of her skirt. Her heels dig in the mud beneath the green grass, her gown flowing with the direction of the wind. But she is still. It's not that she regrets her decision, because she really doesn't. It is, however the reason for her decision. That something or someone that changed her mind or rather, made her realize what she truly wants.

For the first time she moves her body, turning herself around to face her family. Her dad and her grandparents are occupied by looking at the pictures they had just taken laughing and pointing at the accidental blinks when the camera flashed or a picture taken too soon and no one was ready. However her mom met her eyes the moment she turned around, meeting her with a reassuring smile. It was going to be okay, that much she knows.

She allows herself to be engulfed in the chaos, the laughter and the joy on her graduation as she made her way back to her family. Now she moved with the wind and with her gown, going to the direction she wanted. As she inched closer to where they stood under the tree and by the bench, she tried putting together the stories that would explain her decision, but none of them quite made sense. Only one did, but she didn't want to delve on that topic now.

Although Rory doesn't say anything, her grandparents and her dad already knew her decision--her mom knew, too but that's a given. She can tell they are about to tell her—especially her grandmother, Emily—that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life, but somehow Lorelai silences them with a glare before they even speak. She's thankful.

"Let's head on home, shall we?" Lorelai turns to Rory.

Before Rory could speak up, Emily talks despite Lorelai's death glares, "Logan is a very honourable man, he is intelligent, wealthy and not to mention handsome."

"Mom," Lorelai hisses sternly, "Rory made a decision and I'd like to think my daughter is smart enough to know what she is doing."

"She just turned down a perfectly good proposal, I'd hardly call that smart," Emily huffs.

Just as Lorelai is about to retaliate, Rory stops the two women, "Please, don't create a scene." It works, they stop talking and she takes advantage of the silence to somehow explain her decision. "I just…," she starts, but she realizes she couldn't explain herself, "I just…couldn't."

Lorelai and Rory head to Luke's after her graduation. They are meter's away from the diner, but Rory can already smell the coffee. She inhales the scent and it only brings her back to one memory.

_*Flashback*_

_Cars are honking, sirens are whaling, phones are ringing and people don't stop talking. It was, obviously a typical day in New York City. The sun beamed down on her, making it the perfect day to visit New York and look for a job before school ended. The New York Times seemed like a great idea. But not yet, for now she just wanted to enjoy the city. _

_She joins the crowd that are ferociously walking, trying to get from one street to the other in record time. However, unlike the crowd, she keeps her pace slow. People push past her, some muttering under their breath in annoyance of her slow walking, some glaring at her, but she doesn't care, she's taking in every bit of the ever busy City. She takes in the yellow cabs, trying to find a difference between every one of them. She takes in the tall buildings, trying to compare it to the tallest building in Stars Hallow. She takes in the small restaurants and diners, not one of them looked as inviting as Luke's diner._

_She continued walking, enjoying the city, but comparing it to the small town she lived in. Even though not one of the diners or cafes appealed to her, she was desperate for coffee. From a distance she could see a coffee sign, it read 'Jitter Mug' and the quirky name made her want to check out the café. She walked a little faster, but not as fast as the New Yorkers. She opened the door, _Not bad_, she thought to herself. The atmosphere was warm, homey, she could definitely see herself here when she needed a break. _

_Rory went straight to the long counter, much like the one in Luke's Diner. She ordered her usual large coffee, double cream and double sugat. While patiently waiting, she looked around the café some more. On the far right was a big comfy couch and in front of it was a projector and at the moment, one of her favourites, Brief Encounter was playing. The sound was loud enough for the people to hear, but soft enough for the people on the other side of the room to enjoy a quiet time. On the far left was a book shelf that ran along the wall under the panel of the window. She made a note to check out their selection once she got her coffee. _  
_The nice lady handed her the coffee she had ordered, just as she was about to pay, the lady stopped her. _

_"You look like it's your first time here. As a welcome, your coffee is on the house."_

_"Thanks," Rory said truthfully. She nursed her coffee as she made her way to the bookshelves. She nods her head in approval of the small collection of books, some novels, some biographies. There was a wide selection of authors from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde and to Jane Austen. She wanted to stay a little longer, to enjoy the quiet and read a book, but she felt she needed to go outside. She heads for the counter and once again gives her thanks to the kind lady, "The coffee was great, thanks."_

_She stepped outside, the afternoon rush still hasn't died down. She wandered the streets of New York with her coffee at hand, but when she saw a particular building in construction_ _she stopped dead on her tracks. The building wasn't done yet, but it looked great already. The shape was unlike any other building in the city, it was modern yet it was sure to be a classic. She admired the building whilst people walked past it, too busy to enjoy the building._

_"Enjoying the view?" she heard a voice speak. Turning around, she couldn't find the voice to respond. _

_*End of flashback*_

"Coffee and fries," the young Gilmore announces once she steps out of her flashback and into the diner.

"And cheeseburgers, too!" adds Lorelai.

"Ahh, the usual death on a plate," Luke said. "Oh, congratulations Rory!" he came around the counter to hug Rory.

"Thanks," she smiled. "And thanks for the earrings, too. I love it."

Lorelai orders for Rory to find a clean table while she talks to Luke. She makes herself comfortable on one of the stools in front of the counter. She turned herself from side to side, enjoying the rotating seats. "Why have I never noticed that these seats could move--no, the right word is twist. This seat twists!"

From the back of the counter and in his kitchen Luke glares at Lorelai, "Why don't you sit down with your daughter like a normal person, Lorelai?"

Ignoring his advice, she went on about the stools, "Are they new? They don't look new. Still rusty and comfy. Did you install a special machine to make it twist?" She steps out of her seat to inspect it, "I don't see a gadget," she pauses pondering. "Has it always been like this?" she asks truly shocked and still rotating in her seat.

"No, Lorelai," Lorelai could already sense Luke's sarcastic tone, "I just installed a very small gadget that enables that stool to rotate--oh, sorry, twist--just for your amusement." He turned his attention to flipping the patties.

"Aw, thanks Luke. You know what this calls for? A song. Not just any song, a Beatles song. Not just any Beatles song, the Twist and Shout song." Lorelai sings a few lines whilst also trying to dance.

"Well, shake it up, baby, now,  
Twist and shout,  
C'mon c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby, now,  
Come on and work it on out"

"Why didn't I think of putting a door in here," Luke complains pointing towards the entrance that separated the kitchen from the eating area.

"Oh Lukey, a door can't stop me." Lorelai once again stepped out of the stool, this time making her way to the table where Rory sat.

"So I'm guessing you and Luke are okay now...you know with the whole 'I Will Always Love You,' thing," Rory said.

"Yeah, I mean, I think. He was very grumpy this morning though."

Luke entered with the cheeseburger and fries with coffee in his tray, "Was not grumpy," he argued.

"Yeah, I take it back, he was just being normal."

"Am not normally grumpy."

"See you are grumpy now."

"No, I am annoyed now."

"Grumpy and annoyed. That's new."

Rory silently watched with an amused grin on her face while she fingered her fries. She let out a stifled laugh at Luke and Lorelai's antics.

"What?" the two adults turned to her and spoke at the same time.

"Nothing," she took a bite of the fries, still smiling.

"See, she's not grumpy," Lorelai said turning her attention once again to Luke.

"It's amazing how anyone that lives with you could not be grumpy."

"You know, there are people for you."

Ignoring her, he headed back to the counter, "Enjoy your death on a plate."

Lorelai takes a bite of her 'death on a plate', when she swallows her burger, she speaks, "Your boxes all packed?"

"No, I still need to pack some more stuff and then I have to move boxes and I still have to spackle. Why did I have to put so many pictures up the wall?"

Lorelai laughs, "I don't think the pictures created the holes on your wall. I think it was just a bad idea to play darts with you."

"I wasn't that bad!" Rory defends.

"You have no aim! You barely hit the board, you just kept making holes on the wall. Hence the spackling."

Rory sighed knowing her mom was right.

"Besides sucking at sports, how you doing, honey?"

"Okay."

Her mother sees right through her lie, "Yeah?"

"Well, I'm not okay. I feel awful. I feel sick. I miss him already."

"I know," she reaches for her daughter's hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

"And it just sucks, you know, because I graduated today. This was supposed to be a happy day in my life, and now when I look back on it, I'm just gonna think about this horrible thing that happened."

"I'm sorry," she pauses. "I think you made the right decision."

"You do?" Rory looks up, half surprised, half expecting it.

"I do. Someday you'll meet someone, and you'll just know it's right. You won't want to hesitate. You'll just know," she smiled. "And you won't have to make a pro-con list—and don't even deny it because I know you did. You won't have to weigh your options, you'll just know."

"I hope so," she really does, she really does hope so.

"I really do believe it."

"So I guess no more avocado trees," Rory pouts.

"There are better fruits out there."

"Yeah, there are," she says and her mind once again drifts in a land far away—well, not that far away, more like New York.

Lorelai notices her look and she realizes that Rory had been drifting off to a far away place ever since her trip to New York, "What happened on that trip, hun?"

Surprised that her mother would ask, Rory pondered for a moment, "Nothing…I just…I don't know. I guess I realized that, this whole time I've been settling and that I can be happier if I just let myself. And I guess the whole New York thing was a big part of my decision not to marry Logan. Because if I did…I'd be with him in California…far away from the New York Times."

"Wait, did you already get the job?" Lorelai asked surprised.

"Yeah, I got the call right before heading for the stage at Yale. I wanted to tell you, but everyone was so busy."

"Congratulations, honey."

"Congratulations, Rory," Luke shouted from the back.

Rory laughed, "Thanks!"

. . . . .

Her cellphone rings in the pocket of her jeans. Setting down the spackling paste and knife on one of the boxes, she reaches for her phone. Not knowing who the caller is and not really bothering to look at the caller ID, she flips her phone open, "Hello, you are a lifesaver."

"Thanks, I do do well with damsels in distress," the cocky voice says.

"Hey, I like to think I'm a heroine," she defends.

"Fine. So anyway, what did I save you from?"

"Four hours of spackling," on the other line she can hear him laugh at her.

"Why so much spackling?" he's still laughing.

"My mom says it's because I suck at playing darts."

"She's probably right."

"Yeah, mom's know best," she says thinking of her mom earlier statement, _'There are other fruits out there.'_

"Do you need help spackling or do you think you'll be fine?" he asked

"Depends, are you good at spackling."

"Spackle is my middle name."

"What a horrible name," Rory laughs. "But yes, I could use some help."

"Good because I've been standing outside your door for awhile now and people are starting to stare.

"What?!"

"Kidding! I'm not outside your hallway," he hears Rory sigh in relief. "I'm outside your building."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Nice choice, I thought you'd go for the more rustic apartment, but whatever."

Rory was silent.

"Are you going to buzz me in or not?"

"Oh! Sorry," she buzzes him in and hangs up the phone. Almost impatiently she waits for his knock on her door.

_*Flashback*_

_"Enjoying the view?" she heard a voice speak. Turning around, she couldn't find the voice to respond. _

_"Mary," the voice spoke again, this time less cocky and confident and more sincere, "I never thought I'd live to see you again."_

_She choked on her words, "I…I…Ditto." _Ditto? Ditto?! Is that all I can come up with?!_, Rory thought as she mentally kicked herself. He laughed at her, and his blue eyes were smiling, too._

_"One would think that after reading countless of books your vocabulary would be more profound than 'Ditto'," he snickered. _

_His casual tone made it easier for her to respond when she finally found her voice to speak, "How are you Tristan?"_

_He smiled upon hearing her voice, "I'm fine. And yourself?"_

_"Ditto," she says again, this time laughing with him. "So what do you do now?"_

_He swings his hand out dramatically and points towards the building she's been admiring, "That."_

_"What?"_

_"I designed that. I'm an architect."_

_Rory's jaw fell to the ground, "You designed that?" she didn't ask because she didn't believe him, she asked because she was in shock. "That's amazing."_

_"You can't expect any less from Tristan DuGray," he smirks._

_"You haven't changed one bit, have you?"_

_"I like to think I've become hotter throughout the years. Anyway, enough about me—for now, what do you do?" _

_She points towards the newspaper tucked in his arms, "Hopefully that."_

_"The New York Times," he nods as if in approval, "I can't say I'm surprised."_

_"I can be full of surprises, you know?"_

_"Yeah? I'd ask you to tell me over coffee, but I can see you already have one."_

_"A Gilmore never refuses coffee."_

_"Then shall we," he gestured to the café._

_It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship._

_"End of Flashback*_

Although he'd never let it show, he was nervous. So much so that he shakes while trying to knock on her door. He smoothes out the invisible wrinkles on his pants and shoves his hand deep in his pocket. "Coming," he hears her say and in mere moments the door is opened. And there she is.

"Oh, my savior!" she say dramatically as she lets him in her apartment.

"Nice…boxes," there was nothing much to compliment in her apartment as it had nothing but boxes.

"Thanks, I designed them," she joked.

"As an architect, I think it looks lovely."

"As a spackler, I say spackle away!"

She's got her spackle paste and knife and he makes his way to get the other jar of paste and the extra knife. However he trips on one of the boxes, "When are you going to move these boxes outta hear, Gilmore?" he says from the floor.

"Oops, sorry. I'm moving out tomorrow."

He stands up and dusts himself, "Need any help carrying these boxes? Oh never mind, you're a heroine, I don't expect you to need any help."

"I guess heroines could use a hero sometimes," she rolls her eyes. "The boxes are incredibly heavy."

"I'll be here," he says.

"Thanks, bud." Once again she feels her phone ring in her pocket, she reaches for it and this time checks the caller ID; it's her mom. She looks at Tristan and motions to her phone as if saying she has to take the call. "Hey mom," she greets.

"Daughter! I thought I'd save you from the spackling by calling you."

"Actually," she looks over to Tristan, "it's not that bad."

"Oh, okay. Do you need help moving out the boxes?"

"Nah, I got someone strong to do that."

Lorelai lets out a dramatic sigh, "It seems you need me lesser and lesser each day."

"I still need you."

"Oh yeah, for what?"

"Uh...picking out clothes?"

"You'll find your own friends to do that with you one day."

"Nu-uh! You are like the best stylist the world has ever known. Armani couldn't pick better clothes than you."

"Thanks for the lie, honey."

She laughs, "Anytime."

"Well spackle away, I have to go deal with an angry Michel."

"Bye, mom," she shuts her phone and shoves it in her pocket and continues to spackle.

For a while they silently spackle each of them occasionally glancing at the other when they think the other isn't looking. They can feel each other's stares and sometimes their eyes meet, but they quickly look away. Not once, however do the acknowledge it.

"You aren't spackling properly," Tristan tells the brunette.

"Oh, and I suppose you're just the super spackler."

"No, I just wanted to say a word with spackle," he admits.

She laughs at his silliness, "It _is_ a funny word."

"Spackle," he says again, creating a smile on both of their faces.

"Spackle," Rory says it this time.

"Spackle."

"Spackle."

"Spackle."

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Did you like it? Please say yes. And if you say yes, please review. I love them. They make my day. And they make my March break less boring. Please, be _my_ lifesaver and comment. The more the comments the faster the next chapter!


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